How Effective Leadership Can Facilitate Change in Organizations Through Improvement and Innovation by Moo Jun Hao & Dr

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Global Journal of Management and Business Research: A Administration and Management Volume 15 Issue 9 Version 1.0 Year 2015 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853

How Effective Leadership can Facilitate Change in Organizations through Improvement and Innovation By Moo Jun Hao & Dr. Rashad Yazdanifard Southern New Hampshire University, Malaysia Abstract- This research intends to explain effective leadership and how it can bring positive change that helps the organization to improve and be innovative in the current business environment. Effective leadership and change management will be discussed in this article and also how leadership affects other factors, for instance trust, culture and clear vision, in the organization as it facilitates the change. Leadership is one of the main factors in bringing positive change to the organization; if there is no leadership in the organization they will not be able to change in the direction they desire and could experience negative change instead. Keywords: leadership, change management, improvement, innovation. GJMBR - A Classification : JEL Code: M10

HowEffectiveLeadershipcanFacilitateChangeinOrganizationsthroughImprovementandInnovation

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© 2015. Moo Jun Hao & Dr. Rashad Yazdanifard. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. How Effective Leadership can Facilitate Change in Organizations through Improvement and

Innovation

Moo Jun Hao α & Dr. Rashad Yazdanifard σ

Abstract- This research intends to explain effective leadership Intelligent leaders also have the responsibility to and how it can bring positive change that helps the use their skills and knowledge to effectively and organization to improve and be innovative in the current efficiently guide their business forward in the face of an 201 business environment. Effective leadership and change

uncertain future and also to decrease the feelings of ear

management will be discussed in this article and also how Y insecurity in their employees caused by that uncertainty. leadership affects other factors, for instance trust, culture and clear vision, in the organization as it facilitates the change. A leader has the power to influence the success of the 1 Leadership is one of the main factors in bringing positive organization, due to his full power to control the change to the organization; if there is no leadership in the direction of the organization, as well as through the organization they will not be able to change in the direction influence they exert on their employees that motivates they desire and could experience negative change instead. them to bring the company to greater heights. Keywords: leadership, change management, improvement, innovation. II. Effective Leadership

I. Introduction Leadership is a kind of power where one person has the ability to influence or change the values, beliefs, he rapid growth of the economic environment as behaviour and attitudes of another person (Ganta, and well as the emergence of the internet made it Manukonda, 2014). A person with strong leadership T easier to communicate with countries around the ability will be a good example or role model to their world. This in turn changed the business environment in employees, because the leader who is able to effectively every country, causing a competitiveness in the market achieve some good result or achievement gains the ) A that increases with each passing year (Friedman, 2007). trust and admiration of their employees, and (

In order to keep their business afloat, business owners inadvertently changes their values, beliefs, behaviour discovered they had to offer better quality products at a and attitudes, for mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery lower cost, employ strategies that were uniquely suited (Grint, 2007). This statement is also supported by for the organization to adapt according to current Northhouse (2009), who states that leaders who business trends and also flexibility in facing the rapid possess strong leadership have the strength to change of the business environment. influence others to achieve the goals and objectives of Effective leadership is one of most essential the organization. parts of the overall method for an organization to sustain Other than that, there is also another way to their business in the face of problems caused by the define a leader that has strong leadership. A rapid growth of the economic environment. (Cabeza- characteristic of effective leaders is that they give a clear Erikson, Edwards, and Van Brabant, 2008) Leaders are direction to their employees, and also lead their the one who control and take charge of the operation of employees to commit to their jobs and to work as a an organization and good leaders are able to set group to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives optimistic goals and objectives while steering the (Wasim, and Imran, 2010). This also tells us that good operation of the company towards those goals through leaders usually have a clear vision for the company and effective strategies. Other than that, good leaders can therefore can easily identify the problems and obstacles also influence their employees and motivate them by that currently stand between them and the aims of the strengthening a positive organization culture and organization. In this way they are able to effectively and through generous employee benefits, for instance health efficiently bring about the necessary reforms that will Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XV Issue IX Version I care insurance, worker compensation, leave benefit and bring the company into the future while keeping abreast others. with contemporary changes in the business world. According to Jackson and Parry (2008),

Author α σ: Center of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU leadership is a process where leaders use their skills Program), Help College of Arts and Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. e-mails: [email protected], and knowledge to lead and bring a group of employees [email protected] in the desired direction that is relevant to their

organization’s goals and objectives. Additionally, an The time taken for the process of change effective leader that has strong leadership skills should management in an organization is hard to determine, also be in possession of certain characteristic, such as, due to the difference in individual employees’ ability to passion, consistency, trust and vision; for only leaders adapt, as some might rapidly embrace change, while who own these characteristics are able to build trust in others might take a longer time to engage in the employees. change. Just like some employees will be happy with Leadership and management are two different the change, and some might not. The leader should aspects, management is more like the traditional way of communicate and work together with the group of managing business, which the owner of the business employees to sustain the long term process changes has complete control of the organization, and will single- (Wuestman and Casey, 2015). handedly establish a direction and direct their employees to do their work in accordance to the IV. Change Factor L ead by Leadership owner’s instruction and plan. On the other hand,

201 In terms of leadership, it is defined as the ability

leadership is when the leader guides their employees to influence a group of employees’ values, beliefs,

ear towards the organizational goals, all the while trying to attitudes and behavior . (Ganta, and Manukonda, 2014). Y communicate and motivate their employees in order to A leader with strong leadership skills can easily motivate 2 make sure their employees are in the right position to and influence the employees of the organization and use their talents and commit to their jobs. Leadership apply effective changes to the organization. According strategies also will change according to the current to Atkinson, if there is no effective leadership in an trends when necessary, unlike management that merely organization no changes will be made, because there follows it’s old, traditional rules. (Graetz et al., 2010) are no leaders that motivate and lead the organization’s employees as well as provide a clear direction for the III. Change Management organization (Atkinson, 2015). Change has always been an issue for organization, just as it has always been a common a) Trust Trust is an essential issue in leadership for characteristic of human life. Change is definitely hard for humans to accept as it is something that pull people out leaders , as gaining the trust of group members or employees could help to improve the overall of their comfort zones, which forces them to change their habits and makes them highly uncomfortable performance and commitment of the group members or employees (Lee et al., 2010). If the employees or the (Lorenzoni, Nicholson, and Whitmarsh, 2007). For A group members trust in their leaders, it reflects that they () example, a worker usually starts work at 9 a.m.; if his are good, effective leaders . Only when the employees supervisor suddenly requests the worker to begin work trust in their leader will change be brought about, at 7 a.m., the worker will be late to work because force of habit keeps him waking up late. The same thing because people will only follow a person that they trust to lead them to the correct path; not a leader that only applies to the organization, if an employee’s normally does their work following the sequence of A to Z, talks but without action to back up their words (Stacey , Paul and Alice, 2011). If the employees trust their leader, suddenly changing the sequence of work from Z to A, this relationship will bind them together and improve the can be quite difficult for all the employees to get use to overall performance and commitment of the employees; in a short period of time. Change management in an organization can be if it happens conversely , the performance and defined as an approach to deal with change in two commitment of the employees will go downhill and could cause a high employee turnover rate in the different areas - the organization and the individual, with organization. individuals and the overall organization adapting to

change at their own pace and style (Rouse, 2014). b) Organizational Culture Change management allows the organization to catch Leaders hip can shape a good culture. A culture an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage, if the is shaped within the trust between the employees and organization effectively and efficiently implements and the leaders of an organization, or it can defined as adapts to the change of the market (Du Plessis, 2007). cultures need trust to be able to form. Employees and There are three stages in change management, which leaders in the organization need to trust each other in Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XV Issue IX Version I are adapting to change, controlling the change and order to shape a positive organizational culture. Leaders lastly effecting the change. The first stage, adapting to with strong leadership skills are able to shape a positive change, is determining the individual readiness to adapt culture in the organization (Ionescu, 2014), due to them to the changes and their willingness to commit to the being able to inspire trust from their employees. A change. The second stage involves controlling the positive organizational culture not only improves change and implementing it in daily life. Lastly, effecting performance, but also influences the behavior and the change, is to sustain the change and to get used to attitude of the employees in the organization for the it in life. (Hritz, 2008) better. In addition, it motivates employees and gives

©20151 Global Journals Inc. (US) How Effective Leadership can Facilitate Change in Organizations through Improvement and Innovation them a sense of belonging to the organization, which achieve the kind of teamwork and rapport that is inspires loyalty and commitment to the company necessary for the birth of innovative ideas, leaders need (Schein, 2010). A good organizational culture not only to cultivate a positive culture where the employees trust improve s the performance and reduces the turnover rate each other , are allowed to do their own jobs without too of the organization, it also facilitates the solution of much interference and have the freedom to establish a internal issues in the organization. When a good dialogue with one another (Malloch and Melnyk, 2013). organizational culture is established, that does not Leaders that wish to facilitate effective change discriminate based on races, religious and etc, it in the organization should encourage employees to provides a pleasant environment to work in, thereby collaborate and communicate with each other, for this is reducing internal conflict and encouraging discussion how people are able to create and discover new ways to and cooperation in order to work through any inter- think (Gilley, Dixon and Gilley, 2008), which produces a employee issues that crop up. In addition, good greater outcome for the organization and also organizational culture encourages a sense of healthy encourages them to learn from different people the ways competition, motivating employees in the organization to to improve themselves. Even high ranking managemen t 201

be more innovative. Therefore, a strong organizational can learn from the strong points of their employees, ear culture can change the overall performance of the which the y might find themselves lacking. Y organization. Communication helps people to get to know each other, 3 and also could help to create more new ideas by c) Learning sharing opinion s with each other. It is also one of the An effective leader can encourage employees in best ways to gain each other’s trust and bond the whole the organization to learn through certain types of employees in the organization together. motivator s, such as rewards or position (Azzam, 2014). Lastly, leadership not only influence the Continuously learning is one of the ways to improve the employees in the organization, but also provides a clear overall performance of the organization. It is not only the direction to the employees according to the employees that need to improve but even all segments organization’s vision and mission. Effective leaders set of the leadership levels of an organization, if only to set strategies to help the employees to achieve the a good example to the bottom line to motivate them to company’s target and objectives. Leader also play a learn. Leaders should join leadership training programs role in monitoring the direction of the employees to in order to strengthen their skills and knowledge, making make sure the employees are on the right path to

them more effective in their strategies and execution ) achieve the goals according to the strategies. This is (Freifeld, 2013) . The same goes for employees, as A

only possible with effective leadership that inspires (

sending employees for further training will improve their employee trust, as employees are unwilling to follow ability to do their job as well as help to facilitate the someone who has little to no idea of what they are doing effective implementation of the desired changes. This and who wastes too much time and resources on the helps the organization to increase the productivity and unnecessary. performance of the employees (Abou-Moghli, 2015). Since learning does not have an end, leaders need V. Discussion continuous improvement of their leadership skills and knowledge to be competitive in the business market Effective leadership plays an important role in managing a business in the current business nowadays (Park, et al., 2014) . If an organization or leader stops improving and as a result find that their environment, for the old ways of business management skills and knowledge are insufficient, their company will are not enough to sustain a company in the modern surely find itself deteriorating. The organization, Nokia, is market. Although leadership and management are two a very good example, Nokia was once one of the best completely different systems, an organization might be cell phone brands in the world, but Nokia did not surprised to find that there is no one system that continuously improve their skills and make changes in completely suits their needs, so it advisable that they order to adapt to the new trends and needs of the focus on the skills that are suitable for their organization. market, and Nokia drop ped from the one of the best to a Management is a system that is based more on brand that not many people pay attention to (Lee, 2013). planning, budgeting and controlling. The organization is emphasizes on following the plan that is set by the d) Teamwork , Communication and Leading upper rank executives in the organization, and following Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XV Issue IX Version I Besides strengthen ing their leadership skills, their orders to solve problems. Leadership focuses more leaders also need to encourage the employees of the on guiding the employees, leading them in the desired organization to be innovative and cooperative. direction, according to the organization vision and Teamwork and communication are the best way to mission while communicating with and motivating them create innovative ideas in order to produce the best to complete their tasks. Under leadership , the boss outcome for the organization (Maxwell, 2009). To guides and works together with their employees to

produce the ir desired outcome; while old style other. A good culture in the organization not only management orders employees to follow directives provides a good working environment for their while the upper management is focused on planning employees, but also gives a sense of belonging to the and both are separate and do not work together. employees and increases the commitment of Besides that, the current business environment employees to continue working in the organization. require s organization to make changes in order to keep Innovative ideas will be produced when leadership up with the rapid changes in the business environment. motivates the employees to communicate with each If the organization fails to make changes in order to other and share their thoughts with each other. adapt to the market they will fail to survive and will face Leadership skills also enable the leaders to lead bankruptcy . Leadership is in charge of providing a clear their employees into the correct direction, in accordance vision and a systematic way to effective achieve that to the organization vision and mission. When an vision, for if there is no leadership there is no change in organization’s leader leads the employees in the correct organization management (Atkinson, 2015). direction and motivates them to continuously improve 201 Although leadership can bring lots of changes and innovate, the organization’s performance will surely

ear and increase the organization’s performance, but in increase and be able to sustain the organization in the Y reality there are more factors to consider that might current complex business environment. Hence, effective 4 affect the possibility of the changes to occur. Every leadership is the main factor that brings change to the employees’ behavior and attitudes are different, some organization, if there is no leadership in the organization employees might be able to easily adapt to the change there will be no chance at all (Atkinson, 2015). but some will resist the change; some might accept the ways of their leaders and learn from the action of their References Références Referencias leaders but some will become jealous of their leaders 1. Abou-Moghli, A. (2015). The role of organizational and refuse to cooperate. This would drag the support in improving employees perfor-

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